Lynette Alexis Henry has been attending the San Fernando Magistrates Court for over 18 months to say why her son, whose bail she stood, did not attend his court date.
However, for Henry, 62, the trips have become exceedingly tiresome as she is wheelchair-bound and has to be carried up to the courtroom by her two sons on each occasion.
Yesterday, when the matter was called before Deputy Chief Magistrate Mark Wellington in the San Fernando First Magistrates’ Court, Henry was not able to come before Wellington.
Only one of her sons, Newton Francis, came to court with her and was unable to lift her by himself.
When Henry and her son arrived at the courthouse around 8.30 am yesterday, it was raining and thry both were soaked before security guards at the court helped Francis bring the wheelchair into the building.
The matter was called at around 11 am, leaving Henry to dry off in her wheelchair.
Speaking to members of the media outside the courthouse, Henry said the whole thing had distressed her.
“It is really, really bad. There is no wheelchair access and I just have to sit here and wait,” she said.
Francis, whose bail she took, said the matter has been ongoing for months with no end in sight. He was charged with rape in 2011 and his matter is part-heard.
“Every time we come, they adjourned the matter. I had broken my knee and could not come for my court date but the magistrate did not want to hear that,” he said.
Henry, who recently travelled to Canada for surgery, said doctors could not find a cause for her ailments.
“They don’t know what is wrong with me but I can only walk about a foot or two with someone holding me up.”
In the past, magistrates have left their benches to hear the cases of prisoners in the holding bay who could not walk and there is no wheelchair access.